Standing Tall!

This week we had Grace's 2 month check up which included her first round of vaccines. I am not afraid to admit I cried when she got her shots, it was so sad! Thankfully the nurse was fantastic, we are really pleased with our Doctors office, they are all wonderful. Grace did great, she cried during, but mostly becuase she was being held down. She calmed as soon as I picked her up and cuddled her. I on the other hand was still upset when we left the office, so David took me to get a CFA Cookies & Cream Milkshake to make me feel better (it worked).

Anyway, she is up to 9lbs, 10ozs and Dr. Matthews was surprised to see that I am still nursing with that weight gain (it was due to her eating every 2 hours up until a week or so ago, not my caloric intake :). She is getting so big...bigger and bigger by the day. I can't believe it.

She is also starting to show her personality. She is such a happy baby. She smiles and coos and is just super sweet. She has 3 distinct cries, 1 for sad, 1 for I need something and 1 for when she is just pissed off. That last one usually only comes out at night when we turn the lights off for bed. She LOVES lights and will find the lights in the room and stare. It's quite traumatic when we turn them off for sleep and because of this obsession I have to have her nap in the dark at home. She's flexible when we're out and about and sleeps like a champ in her car seat just about anywhere, but at home she needs it to be dark so she isn't distracted. Too funny.

She has shifted her schedule on her own. She is now eating every 3 hours (I still feel like I have a ton of "free time"), and she is going to bed between 10 & 11 and sleeping until 4-6am. I can't ask for more than that. Hopefully soon she'll sleep straight through the night. AND she has successfully slept several naps and nights in her cradle. I still use the swing when she gets over exhausted, but as long as she's flexible and not tied to her swing, I'm ok with it for now. :)

Here's just a few photos from the last few days for you to enjoy.

Grace & I enjoying a lovely afternoon nap together. :)Grace moved into her 0-3 clothes this week which means she has "real outfits" now. On Wednesday I put her in this sweet outfit that she got from her Mama for Christmas - she looks like such a big girl! Standing Tall! Grace is so strong. She can hold her head up really well and has recently started standing with just balance assistance. It's so strange to see such a little girl stand up nearly on her own, even if just for a second. I can already tell she is going to grow up far too fast...Posing for a photo op with Daddy

Baby Steps

Today has been a great day! Grace and I went out to spend a gift card at Gymboree and I had so much fun shopping for my girl! We got alot of great deals in their 60% + off clearance section and had fun just being out of the house. Since we slept great last night, I decided to try to switch things up today for her naps in my continuing effort to get her into the cradle. Since she is finally back on her schedule and is consistently eating 3 hours apart (as opposed to 2 to 2 1/2 hours apart) I felt I could try to rock the boat a bit. Today she has taken 2 naps in her swing without the motion - woohoo! If she does this again successfully tomorrow then Wednesday I'll try the cradle again. Wish me luck!

All Smiles

Grace is 8 weeks old today! She is growing like a weed and I think we'll be able to move her into size 1 diapers in the next 2-3 weeks. She is finally fitting into her newborn clothes well, so it shouldn't be but another month or so before she can move into her 0-3 outfits. I'll be glad when that happens since I'll have to many more outfits for her to wear and I won't have to do laundry as often, but I'll be sad to see her grow out of her first clothing size. She has fallen into a schedule on her own which is wonderful and in the last 3 days has started to spread out her feedings from 10 feedings every 2 hours to 7-8 feedings every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Man, what will I do with all this free time? :) I am still going to try to get her out of her swing and into her cradle for at least some of her naps so eventually she will sleep in it overnight, but for now she sleeps so well in her swing, I'm ok with her staying in it for a while longer.

We have had alot of fun and time for relaxing lately. The last 2 weekends we have had no plans which has been wonderful. We've spent lots of time hanging out with Paul & Bethany and sleeping when Grace has slept...we even got to go out to dinner together and she slept the whole time. This week we finally made it back to church and it was great to get to show Grace off to her church family.

Yesterday we met our friends the Carpenters for lunch on their way through town and it was so great to see them! We try to get together quarterly at each others' places (they live in Greenville, SC) so this was a treat. Hopefully it won't be too much longer until we can get together again, but at least they got to meet Gracie.

Finally, last night we attempted to go for another walk. We tried on Friday, but after just a 1/2 mile it got too cold and we had to call it. Thankfully, it stayed above 50 degrees until 6 so we were able to walk 1 1/2 miles. I was thrilled to make it that far since I hadn't walked for exercise since her birth. It sucked that Dr. Hudson finally cleared me to walk at 6 weeks and then it got so bitter cold that it wasn't possible for another 2 weeks. The good news is she said at 8 weeks I could start to push her in her stroller, so I tried it last night. It went well, but I have a pretty bad backache today, so I may have overdone it. I think I'll let David push her for a little longer until my muscles get stronger. At least I'm making progress. :) Anyway, as I know you all come for the pictures, here are a few of us recently. I called this post "All Smiles" because of the video below - enjoy!

I was feeding her one night and David was cleaning the bedroom so the light was on and she was distracted by her daddy. So, I had him cover me completely with this blanket so it would be darker and she would focus on eating. :)Martin was up at David's other shoulder, but when I moved to get the camera, he got up. My poor girl...She had a few spots of cradle cap on her cheeks, so I put this cream that came highly recommended on them and she is apparently allergic as her whole face broke out in a rash. I feel so awful! It's healing, but in the mean time I couldn't resist these super cute faces she was making one morning for me. She is so happy and excited to see me in the morning, I always get the best smiles and grins from my precious girl.Sleeping in her swing...so cozySnuggling with Daddy - he comes and gets her every night when he gets home from work for a few minutes of snuggling.We have alot of video of Grace, but I haven't taken the time to figure out how to download it yet. This video was taken on my point and shoot, so it isn't the highest quality, but she is still so cute I had to share.

Praise God for his blessings...there are lots of good things going on in our family, and for that we are grateful! My cousin Jennifer gave birth to the newest addition to our family, Truman Wallace, today - we can't wait to meet him! AND my brother & his wife had their bid on their first house accepted and should be able to move in March!! We're so thrilled for them!!

HIMYM Makes Me Happy

We LOVE How I Met Your Mother. It always makes us laugh and we are pushers. If you haven't been asked by us if you want to borrow season 1, or forced to watch episodes yet, you will. We love it and we think you should to. There are many reasons we love it...
Robin Sparkles, slapsgiving, and now...this. Enjoy.


Oh and for the record, The Big Bang Theory, also on Monday nights on CBS is totally worth the watch. Hysterical!

Birth Announcement

I know most everyone who reads my blog got these in the mail, but I wanted to post them anyway. :)

Our Official Christmas Family PhotoGracie's Birth Announcement

Us Recently...

Grace is 6 weeks old today - I can't believe it! I just want to put a break down and slow time. She is already changing and growing...it's amazing.

On Saturday Dad & Linda went home after a wonderful 2 1/2 week visit. They spoiled us rotten and we already miss them. They brought their cat Casper and he didn't want to leave - it took them 20 minutes to get him in the car. He had such a great time with his cousins. :) Later that morning, we headed to Auburn to meet up with all the Bilbos for lunch and introduce Grace to all her cousins, Aunts & Uncles. Carol is the only one who had met her prior to Saturday so Deb took lots of turns snuggling our precious girl. It was so great to get to see everyone and I got some snuggles in with my not so little Grady who is just adorable too. We even drove around Auburn's campus (which I had never done) and saw Toomer's Corner all TP'd from their bowl win on Friday. It was a great day!

Grace did so great in the car and for that we couldn't be more grateful. We are big travellers and with family so far away, car rides are going to be inevitable. I'm glad that she quickly falls asleep and stays asleep while we drive. Plus, I got to practice my "pump and give her a bottle in the car" routine and that went well too. On 9+ hour car rides (like to both sets of my parents' houses) that will be an invaluable resource. That way we'll only have to stop to burp and change her making the stops less frequent and shorter...hopefully. :)

Last night we had fun playing with the webcams. Grace got to see her Grandma & Grandad (my mom & Mike) online and they got to revel in her cuteness. I am glad that all her grandparents have webcams so they can see her more often and make the distance a little more manageable.

Grace & I survived our first day at home alone yesterday now that all the company that has been with us since her birth have all gone home. Our pediatrician wanted us to wait until 8 weeks to start scheduling her, which is going to be difficult for me, but I'll do my best. Because she is so small they don't want her crying all the time as I try to adapt her to a schedule and loosing weight. So...I try not to think about the fact that the habits we are forming now by not letting her cry very often are going to be even harder to break in 2 weeks. The good news is that last night I put her in her swing and left the light on (she LOVES looking at lights!) and she soothed herself to sleep. Whew! We have done it 3 times since then and she is doing great. Hopefully this small milestone will help make the transitions in 2 weeks a little easier.

I promise pictures next time, I just haven't had a chance to load them off the camera and compress them. Soon though. :)